Council re-zoning for shingle factory

Tuesday

Nov 19, 2013 at 10:06 AM

Drew Van DykeMMI Editor

An ordinance passed during last night's (Monday, Nov. 18) Moberly City Council meeting, regarding amending the current zoning map within the city, has to do with the shingle factory considering Moberly as a location.

The ordinance, along with re-designating "a tract of land in the Northwest Quarter and the North Half of the Southwest Quarter of Section 25 and the Northwest Quarter of Section 26, all in Township 54 North, Range 14 West of the fifth principal meridian, Randolph County, Missoui" as an Industrial District-Planned Development District (M-1-PD) from just an Industrial District (M-1), also allowed for the development of a manufacturing facility "that will be used for the manufacture of asphalt roofing shingles and modified bitumen roofing materials", as well as to house "primary granules, fiberglass mat, polymers, adhesives, and packaging materials."

This development includes, said Moberly Community Development Director Tom Sanders, different possibilities for entrance- and exit-ways from the facility area to US Highway 63.

One exit option, Sanders said, could be to connect with a nearby road that would then lead out to the highway. A second would be to create a direct access roadway between the factory and 63.

Sanders noted that no decision had been made as to whether or not the factory's mother company (GAF Materials Corporation, out of Wayne, New Jersey) had selected a city for placement. This ordinance is seen as, instead, a preemptive measure.

It is expected that up to 400 trucks could access the proposed Moberly facility on a daily basis.

The ordinance notes that the approximate spacial needs for each facility area associated with the factory is as follows:

• Manufacturing: 250,000 square feet;

• Warehouse: 125,000 square feet;

• Production Office: 15,000 square feet;

• and Administrative Office: 15,000 square feet.

"The majority of the facility will have a building height of 30 feet with select parts of the raw materials storage area having a height or 125 feet," the ordinance notes.

There will also be approximately 20 acres of outdoor space, including concrete pads for finished goods. Parking spaces will number 239 for employees, guests, and contractors. These will be phased in as the facility is operated. Truck parking will number 40 spaces for tractor trailers.

In a late-October interview, Sanders told the MMI that the factory could bring 125 new jobs to the Moberly area, with average wages coming in at $50,000 per year. The decision should be made at the end of the year regarding which locale will host the new factory.